Obama: Are you better off than you were four years ago? I guess you’re not

posted at 4:08 pm on October 3, 2011 by Allahpundit

On the one hand, this is the worst thing an incumbent president can say, especially one who’s already struggling under the weight of comparisons to you-know-who.

On the other hand, what other answer could he give? If he sat there and tried to argue that things are improving, even Stephanopoulos might have busted out laughing. That’s how awful his political situation is right now. Like Biden talking about the economy, he’s forced to be brutally candid because even perfunctory optimistic spin would be derided as hopelessly out of touch. Better that he shows he’s in tune with the electorate’s mood, grim though it is, than cocoon himself in talking points.

The American people, he conceded, are “not better off” than they were four years ago.

“The unemployment rate is way too high,” he said of the 9 percent jobless rate, the highest in more than half a century…

Obama would not handicap the 2012 election, but objected to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s comments that he divided people more than united them. Republicans, he said, have stood in the way of working with him time and again to fix the economy.

“At every step of way, I have tried to get the Republican Party to work with me on the biggest crisis of our lifetime. And each time we’ve gotten ‘No,'” he said.

Follow the last link and read to the end and you’ll find that he’s “still working on” his assessment of gay marriage, a project that’s now well into its second decade. Here’s video of him from the same interview insisting that he’s the underdog next year. Hard to argue with that on the merits, especially with the country on the brink of a European-driven double-dip, but I can’t bring myself to believe that a liberal incumbent with the media on his side and a ginormous war chest could ever really be an underdog in America. Case in point: We all had a giggle yesterday at how his campaign’s drive to attract new donors drew only slightly more than half the number it was aiming for. Tee hee! Meanwhile, his third-quarter fundraising haul is expected to exceed $55 million, which actually represents a slow-ish period for him. Some underdog. Click the image to watch.

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I’ll reiterate what I said on the RCP thread. I actually am better off than I was 4 years ago(marginally). However I’m not better off than I was 2 years ago. My salary has remained stagnant while cost of living has increased. And a quarter of the department I work in has been laid off in the last few months.

Do I directly blame Barry for all of this? No. But I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the economy remains in the crapper and looks to be there for a long time thanks to his policies.

Just 37 percent in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll say they expect Obama to win re-election in November 2012; 55 percent instead expect the eventual Republican nominee to win. ABC’s George Stephanopoulos is asking the president about that result in an interview today.

“At every step of way, I have tried to get the Republican Party to work with me on the biggest crisis of our lifetime. And each time we’ve gotten ‘No,’” he said.

Actually, I think the response the Republicans received from you Mr. President was “I won.”

President Obama listened to Republican gripes about his stimulus package during a meeting with congressional leaders Friday morning – but he also left no doubt about who’s in charge of these negotiations. “I won,” Obama noted matter-of-factly, according to sources familiar with the conversation.

He’s used to being an “underdog”? Would that be when AA, leftist connections, and shady money got him into Harvard Law School? Or when his “guy in the neighborhood” Ayers got him a cushy job divying up a cool $50M and helped him write his book? Or when his buddies got his opponents kicked off the primary ballot so he could run unopposed? Or maybe it was when sealed court documents miraculously got unsealed in time for the general election? Or how about how the bottom suddenly dropped out of the stock market just in time for the presidential election?

The Labor Department’s inspector general says a $500 million program designed to train workers for green jobs has come up far short of its goals.

A report finds that only about 8,000 people participating in the program have actually found work so far. That’s just 10 percent of the target goal of placing 80,000 workers in careers in energy efficiency or renewable energy by 2013.

The report says agencies receiving grant money have expressed concerns that jobs have not materialized.

My wife and I like many other Americans are working extra jobs just to keep from going under. The value of our home has been going “down” and a condo we own almost forced us into bankruptcy. We are living one day at a time financially and praying we can survive until the Communists are out of power.

It’s those dam bitter clingers that hate me because I’m black and I have reduced the economy to squat so van jones can set the revolution in motion. Everyone will be dependent on the government, the poor(90%)or the crony capitalists who seek my blessing and government(obama) money. I will rename the place “Obamerica”, fitting reward for all I did for the place.

“At every step of way, I have tried to get the Republican Party to work with me on the biggest crisis of our lifetime. And each time we’ve gotten ‘No,’” he said.

When did libs try to work with Republicans? Republicans offered their own ideas time, and again and were turned out. Their ideas scrapped, shredded, ignored. You name it, libs did it. Now they hold a majority in the House only, and they’re obstructing? They’ve offered bills, budgets and the like and STILL get ignored. They’ve passed numerous bills only to be stalled by the libs. They’re trying Obama. Are you? Other than to say…it’s my way or the highway. And if you don’t go with me you’re an obstructionist?

You tell the CBC to quit whining. Maybe you should take some of your own advice. You’re far from being the underdog here, and you know it…but you just can’t resist being a drama queen. Michelle must get awfully sick of pandering to your crap.

Yes its those eeeeevvvviiiillll Republicans who are stopping Democrats from co-sponsoring his jobs bill…. oh, wait…

How long will it be before Democratic candidates start denouncing him in their campaigns? I mean, really, would you want to run with this guy at the top of the ticket?

A hint to Democrats: offer Tea Partiers a prime position inside the party by having them fill up empty precinct seats so they can start tearing the rot out of your party… because it is obvious that your current leadership isn’t up to the task.

Why would you keep your widget-building factory in America with the IRS not knowing its tax regulations for 2012… the NLRB telling where your own facilities can be located… the EPA looking for reasons to shut them down… the Labor Dept. hounding every hiring decision… the U.S. Government investing in your overseas competitors… ObamaCare driving your medical costs through the roof… and unions driving up your labor costs?

No thanks. I’ll just pay $2 per widget to source from China. I’d rather deal with up-front Communists than stealth Socialists.

Don’t blame companies for “exporting” jobs; blame Obama’s Big Government approach for for driving them off.

If he sat there and tried to argue that things are improving, even Stephanopoulos might have busted out laughing

I can tell you’re being sarcastic, but for new readers:

No, of course we all know that Stephanopoulos wouldn’t have laughed and at worst would’ve teed up an easy and unchallenged “I saved our broken healthcare system and economy from a real disaster” answer.

“At every step of way, I have tried to get the Republican Party to work with me on the biggest crisis of our lifetime. And each time we’ve gotten ‘No,’” he said.

I’m really tired of this sales pitch. The reason people aren’t working with him (note the Dems have finally started to “not work with him on the American Jobs Act) because his policies suck and his proposals are detrimental to to the economy.

Having to compromise with crappy proposals is like compromising with a like a little kid who asks his parents to spend their life savings to buy him a whole bunch of toys and when they say no, he says, “Work with me here, compromise and spend half your life savings!”

Parents: No!

Kid: A quarter of it!

Parents: No!

Kid: Every step of the way you say “No!”

Bary needs to be sent to his room and it’s too bad he won’t be told to go until November 2012 and it won’t happen until January 2013.

We all had a giggle yesterday at how his campaign’s drive to attract new donors drew only slightly more than half the number it was aiming for. Tee hee! Meanwhile, his third-quarter fundraising haul is expected to exceed $55 million, which actually represents a slow-ish period for him. Some underdog. Click the image to watch.

If they spend the $55 million with the same sort of responsibility and cost-controls they’ve put on spending taxpayer dollars in the past 2 1/2 years, there’s a good chance they might only be able to afford a 10-second spot on a public access channel in American Samoa, once everyone else gets their take of the booty.

Republicans, he said, have stood in the way of working with him time and again to fix the economy.
“At every step of way, I have tried to get the Republican Party to work with me on the biggest crisis of our lifetime. And each time we’ve gotten ‘No,’” he said.

I simply love the continued “its the republicans’ fault, Obama’s tried over and over again to reach across the aisle and work with them” meme…

Like when he rammed Obamacare up our… down our throats…

Like the many times he explained why he was doing what he was doing with “I won” and “elections have consequences” and “the election is over”, and…

..oh dear God! I just realized it. When this clown gets thrown out sprawling on the Pennsylvania Avenue dust in January 2013 there will be ceaseless TV spots of him and and his insufferable WIDE LOAD FLOTUS hyping things like Target, GM cars, Expedia, cruise lines, and enema products.

Forgot all about the lock he had on Congress for two years.
I got it: The dumbest president to ever sit in the oval office managed to mastermind 9/11 all by himself to get Saddam and steal the oil (gas now costing 3.50/gal) and didn’t get caught.

But the smartest president in history can’t get jack done even with a Congress full of Democrats.